How do you make homemade laundry detergent, and does it work?

The most widely trusted recipes come from UF/IFAS Extension: a powder of borax, washing soda and a grated bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap, used at 2 tablespoons a load, and a 10-gallon liquid made from the same three ingredients, used at 1/4 cup in a high-efficiency washer or 1/2 cup in a top loader. Both are printed below exactly as published. They do clean clothes, but the cleaning agent is soap, and soap behaves differently from store detergent: it reacts with the calcium in hard water and can leave residue in fabric and in the machine. This page gives the recipes, explains what each ingredient does, and helps you decide whether your water and washer suit them.

The UF/IFAS powder, as published

From Homemade Household Cleaners, FCS3319, Release Date October 7, 2025 [1]:

Powder Laundry Detergent - 1 cup of Borax - 1 cup of washing soda - 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap - OxiClean or other stain remover (optional) - Fabric Ssoftener [sic] beads (optional) Finely chop the bar of soap in a food processor. Combine all ingredients and store the powders in a canning jar or other recycled container. Use 2 tablespoons (tbsps.) per load of laundry.

The spelling "Ssoftener" is UF/IFAS's own, as printed in the October 7, 2025 release.

The UF/IFAS 10-gallon liquid, as published

From the same publication [1]:

Liquid Laundry Detergent - 4 cups of hot tap water - 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap - 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - 1/2 cup of Borax - Essential oils (optional) Add 4 cups of hot water to a small saucepan. Grate the Fels-Naptha soap and add it to the saucepan. Heat at low temperature until the soap is melted. Stir the melted soap and water to mix the solution. Fill half of a 5-gallon bucket with hot water. Add the melted soap, Borax, and washing soda. Fill the bucket to the top with more tap water. Let sit overnight to thicken. Stir, and dispense thickened soap into clean laundry-soap dispensers (use empty containers from commercial brand laundry detergent). Fill one-half of each bottle, then top the container off with water. Shake before using. (Yields 10 gallons. For high-efficiency machines, use 1/4 cup per load. For top-loading machines, use 1/2 cup per load.)

UF/IFAS gives no amount for the optional essential oils, so none is given here. Adding them is untested by the source.

Two instructions to change: the container and the open bucket

Two instructions in the publication need changing before you follow it.

UF/IFAS suggests storing the powder in "a canning jar or other recycled container," and its closing section adds, "You can also recycle old milk jugs and reuse canning jars for dispensers" [1]. The same publication also says, "Never put cleaners in food containers" [1]. Poison Control's rule is the stricter one: "Never transfer something from its original container to a food or beverage container" [2]. A jar of white powder or a milk jug of pale liquid looks like food to a child and sometimes to an adult. Store the powder in a lidded tub or jar that has never held food. For the liquid, UF/IFAS suggests reusing empty commercial detergent containers; follow the stricter rule here too, because chemical makers' safety data sheets tell you not to reuse their empty containers (Clorox's bleach SDS, for example: "Do not reuse empty containers" [7]). Decant it into new bottles that have never held another product, and label every one; bottles and labels gives a label you can copy.

The 5-gallon bucket of liquid sits overnight while it thickens. Cover it, label it, and keep it where children and pets cannot reach it; UF/IFAS says to "Store cleaning solutions out of children's reach" [1].

What each ingredient does in the wash

UF/IFAS does not explain the role of each powder; the third column is the usual account of what an alkali and a water conditioner do in laundry, and builders and chelators sets out the chemistry. UF/IFAS also notes, "The materials in homemade laundry soap have no phosphates" [1]. That matters only if you plan to sell a detergent; phosphorus limits covers the state caps.

Both powders are alkaline and irritating to eyes. Wear gloves and avoid breathing the dust when you grate, stir and pour, and read the hazard notes on the borax and washing soda pages before your first batch.

Why soap behaves differently from store detergent

UF/IFAS calls one recipe a detergent and the other a "thickened soap," and in its closing notes it calls both "homemade laundry soap" [1]. The second name is the accurate one. The cleaning agent is a bar of laundry soap. CPSC, applying FDA's definition, treats a product as true soap when "The bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids" and its cleaning action comes from those compounds; adding synthetic detergents takes it outside that definition [3]. Whether a particular bar meets that test depends on its ingredients, so read the wrapper.

Store laundry detergents are built around synthetic surfactants. The practical difference shows up in hard water. The U.S. Geological Survey explains: "In hard water, soap reacts with the calcium (which is relatively high in hard water) to form 'soap scum'," and "more soap or detergent is needed to get things clean" [4]. In laundry that scum can stay in the fibers, and USGS notes that "Hard water can even shorten the life of fabrics and clothes" [4]. Holding off that reaction is the usual reason soap-based recipes add washing soda and borax. Iowa State's AnswerLine adds a stain-specific caution: for tannin stains, "Do not use natural soap" [5].

So the honest answer to "does it work" is that it depends on your water. In soft water the soap has little calcium to react with; in hard water the recipe may not supply enough conditioning, and the scum is what you will see. No extension service has published a wash-performance test of these recipes against store detergent, and this page does not claim one. Hard water and laundry shows how to find your water's hardness and what the signs of trouble look like.

Making your first batch: a short checklist

1. Find your water hardness first. Your water utility can tell you; the USGS says hardness information "should be provided by the local health agency or local water utility" [4].
2. Check your washer's manual. Front-load and other high-efficiency washers have their own detergent rules. Homemade detergent in HE washers quotes LG, Samsung, Whirlpool and Maytag.
3. Make the powder first. It is the smaller commitment: a cup of each powder and one bar, against a 10-gallon bucket for the liquid.
4. Measure the dose. Use the published amounts: 2 tablespoons of powder, or 1/4 cup (HE) or 1/2 cup (top loader) of the liquid [1]. More soap in hard water means more scum, and LG warns that "Using too much detergent can cause a build-up in the tub" [6].
5. Watch the first month of loads. Stiff towels, a gray cast, a film in the drum or a smell from the door seal are the signs to stop and reassess.

What the recipe costs, in one line

At prices observed on October 22, 2026, the borax and washing soda in the 10-gallon liquid come to under 3 cents per high-efficiency load before the soap bar; the arithmetic, and the store detergents it was compared against, are on is homemade cleaner cheaper?.

What it does not do

Neither recipe makes a stain or whitening claim beyond UF/IFAS's optional "OxiClean or other stain remover," and neither makes or supports any claim about killing germs. For stains, treat the stain before washing, as removing stains describes. If you plan to sell a laundry powder, the claim rules on when a cleaner becomes a pesticide apply to every word on the bag.

Checking the fit with your washer

The question most readers ask next is whether a soap-based mix is safe in a front loader and what it means for the warranty. Homemade detergent in HE washers sets out what the manufacturers say and what they do not.

References

1. University of Florida IFAS Extension (Amanda Griffin and Randall A. Cantrell), *Homemade Household Cleaners*, FCS3319, Release Date October 7, 2025. https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1449
2. Poison Control (National Capital Poison Center), Rose Ann Gould Soloway, *What Belongs in a Soft Drink Bottle? The Dangers of Container Transfers*, undated, read October 2026. https://www.poison.org/articles/what-belongs-in-a-soft-drink-bottle
3. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, *Soap Business Guidance*, undated, read October 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Soap-Business-Guidance
4. U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School, *Hardness of Water*, page dated August 24, 2026. https://www.usgs.gov/water-science-school/science/hardness-water
5. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, AnswerLine, posts tagged "stains," undated, read October 2026. https://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/answerline/tag/stains/
6. LG Electronics, *Owner's Manual, WM3997HWA Washing Machine*, "Using Detergent/Fabric Softener" (page 20), read October 2026 in the copy reproduced by ManualsLib (no LG-hosted copy of this manual was found). https://www.manualslib.mx/manual/785300/Lg-Wm3997Hwa.html?page=20
7. The Clorox Company, *Safety Data Sheet: Clorox Regular Bleach2*, revised December 9, 2020. https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/US001153-Clorox-Regular-Bleach2_3.pdf